Happy Birthday Vegetarian Child!

Today is our youngest daughter's 21st birthday! It's hard to believe! I see her almost everyday and in just a blink, she is grown, We have a tradition in this family to let the birthday person pick their own birthday meal. This has proved to be most interesting over the years! Her choice today is Spicy Bean Soup. While she is a vegetarian, she was conscientious enough to choose a meal that we all love. It is once again, an altered version or a recipe in the slow cooker cookbook I love! I bet you're beginning to wonder if there is a recipe I don't "tweak". Well........okay, guilty. Necessity is the mother of invention, but mostly I alter a recipe when I am lacking an ingredient, substituting an ingredient, trying to save money, or omitting the meat or bone broth to please the veg child. There is plenty of protein from the mix of beans in this recipe to please any skeptic. While this is an economical meal, you can make it even more so, if you make your own vegetable broth and use that. I have used veg bullion, veg broth in aseptic containers, or my own homemade. You decide. Today's will be veg bouillon, as that is what I have on hand. I also omit the 4oz pepper jack cheese to be stirred in until melted before serving, as we find the soup spicy enough and once again, omitting it is more cost effective.

Spicy Bean Soup ala Veg Child

1 - 15oz can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 - 15oz can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained

1 - 15oz can navy beans, (I use great northern, easier to find) rinsed and drained

1 - 10oz package of frozen lima beans

1 - 9oz frozen cut green beans

1 cup chopped onions (2 medium)

4 teaspoons chili powder

1 1/2 teaspoon dried basil, crushed

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed

2 Garden Veggie bullion cubes and 4 cups of water, or 4 cups of homemade veg broth, or 1 aseptic container of veg broth and water to make 4 cups total.

In a 3 1/2 to 6 quart slow cooker, combined canned and frozen beans, onions, chili powder, basil, and oregano. Stir in broth. Cover cook on low heat for 8 to 9 hours or on high heat for 4 to 41/2 hours. Yields 8 servings.

For those who are wondering the costs, our costs were under $5.00 making it around ..63 cents a serving!

Happy Birthday Veg Child! We love you!